The invention relates generally to a cord management method and a sleeve for preventing the entanglement of a Y-shaped cord. More particularly, the invention relates to the cord management method of grouping and separating a plurality of ends of the Y-shaped cord that employs a sleeve that separates the plurality of ends of the Y-shaped cord, such as found on a set of earphones, game controllers, or data cables, preventing the Y-shaped cord from getting tangled with itself and other objects while in storage.
Modern electronics frequently use portable Y-shaped cords. Prominent examples of Y-cords (Y-shaped cords) are: earbud earphones, in-ear-monitor headphones, game controllers such as with the Wii® system, (Wii® is the registered trademark of Nintendo Of America Inc. Corp., Redmond, Wash.) PS2® Splitter Y cable (PS2® is the registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Corp., Tokyo, Japan), and the USB-2 (Universal Serial Bus) Male Y-cable. These light flexible Y-cords are particularly desirable for portable applications, which means they are frequently stored in bags, pouches, or the bottom of drawers, where they can become entangled with other objects in the surrounding area, or tangled with the other ends of the same Y-cord. Daily new electronic devices are introduced to the consumer market that require the use of a Y-cord. Additionally, other functional electronic parts are often added in the middle of the Y-cord, such as a microphone, so that the Y-cord must be completely disentangled before using. Because personal electronic devices are so popular, people will own multiple sets of Y-cords, generally stored in the same place, that become entangled like a proverbial nest of wire hangers. As a result, users are frequently frustrated by having to spend several minutes detangling the Y-cord before it can be used.
Existing attempts to prevent Y-cord entanglement focus on isolating, capturing, or otherwise taking up the excess cable in the middle of the Y-cord, such as the device taught in U.S. Pat. No. 7,599,509 These existing practices require the user to wrap the middle portion of the Y-cord around some other object, either the listening device itself, such as an iPod® (iPod® is the registered trademark of APPLE Inc., Cupertino, Calif. 95014), a mobile phone, or similar device, or an external object, such as a capstan, a spindle or a similar device. The existing methods are both cumbersome and time consuming, requiring the user to wrap the cord up and then unwrap it for each use. They add either extra bulk and weight, in the case of wrapping the cord around an external object, or else render the device itself unusable, for example, by blocking the viewing area on an iPod® with the cord.
Many others have proposed reels that are incorporated into the electronic device or are externally located on the cord itself. Generally, these reels are self-retracting and are designed for a single cord, such as a single earbud cord and not a cord that includes multiple cords. However, no reeling device effectively manages the Y-shaped cord because it will either reel in the segments of the cord containing the earbuds together, possibly entangling them in the process, or allow one portion of the Y-cord to dangle.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.